[Paid and but wont download, incorrect key?]

Have you already received an e-mail that your key has been updated? It seems Josh has to do that "manually", it doesn't work right after purchasing.

[Installing Leadwerks 3]

On my MacBook LE3 won't start, error details:

 

Dyld Error Message:

Library not loaded: @executable_path/../Frameworks/Scintilla.framework/Versions/A/Scintilla

Referenced from: /Applications/Leadwerks/*/Leadwerks.app/Contents/MacOS/Leadwerks

Reason: image not found

[Flowgraph]

Hi,

 

is the flowgraph a project-wide, predefined thing or can I have several of them (if so how do I create one? I would love the possibility to attach flowgraphs to any entities to control their behavior (and store this with the prefab).

[Leadwerks 3 Beta Evaluation Kit]

If your on the Scene tab on the right, you can right-click on the character mesh and select Add->Script. There are a couple of scripts on the Assets tab (in folder Script ), also for cameras.

[My thoughts about LE3 price]

I think it's a *very* risky gamble to take on Unity at this stage of development. With the current set of features in LE3 (or rather lack thereof) Unity is cheaper and provides more. Where is the unique selling proposition?

 

1) Native code? For some it might be, for me it isn't. Having done Java and C# for the last 15 years I have to torture myself into relearning C++. I happily sacrifice some performance for the increased productivity.

 

2) Art pipeline? Can't tell, haven't seen LE3's. But Unity's pipeline is better than many I've seen, providing API's to modify and extend it.

(another nice one is in XNA which they already have reimplemented in MonoGame 3.0)

 

3) Flowgraphs? Spend $95 (often 50% less) in the Asset Store and get uScript, which is powerful and really great.

 

Build on top of that a much smaller community, lack of documentation (both first- and third-party - how many books on Leadwerks are there?), and not a single game to prove it's worth the invest, the decision for most people will be clear. Even the "volatility due to bad boy venture capitalists" argument doesn't count - it's much riskier to bet on a closed-source one (two-) developer company.

 

Now, I understand that Josh might view the technology behind LE3 as superior to that of other engines, and maybe he's right. But chances are that nobody will ever find out if he doesn't lower the entry barrier to gain more momentum.

[Facts about LE3]

Josh said the boxed version will be shipped in March and that LE2 customers will get access to it via download earlier than that - could be in February or early March (consistent with what you listed).

[Terrain max height and procedural roads]

Well,

 

it seems to work if I modify the terrainaltitude in the sbx: The terrain looks larger in the editor (though ceiling and altitude are still at 1000), and the value is preserved even if I save the project again. Of course, I still have to see if it really works.

 

Regarding roads - by looking at the Lua script, I think I might come up with a solution that fits my needs. Is the binary data in the sbx just the roadmesh, serialized by the call to Save(stream)?

 

I have a different road question, though: If I use the "Align terrain to roads" button in the toolbar, my road gets very bumpy. I was expecting the terrain heightmap to be modified, but instead it seems the road aligns to the terrain... Did I misinterpret something?

[Setting Terrain Normals?]

Yeah, couldn't find a way set this in the editor, too. I tried to set it in the sbx file by specifying a filename for texture14, but that didn't seem to have an effect. Maybe there is a naming convention or something, or you simply can't do that?

[Terrain max height and procedural roads]

Thanks. Well, I've never looked at a shader before... But quickly looking at terrain.frag, it should be possible to scale the altitude (though the question is why is there a limit in the editor in the first place). And what that might do to physics is indeed an interesting question...

 

As for the roads: Adding additional nodes in the sbx might be an option, if indeed it was possible to generate those binary metadata.

[Terrain max height and procedural roads]

Hi,

 

newbie question(s):

 

1) I have a height map from World Machine which covers a rather large terrain both in size and height. I actually need to scale it to a maximum height > 1000 (which seems to be the limit according to the ceiling parameter). How can I do that? In the editor? Via C++? And if via C++: Can I save the scaled terrain/project again (couldn't find an API call for that)?

 

2) Is there a way to generate a road programmatically? My terrain is real-world based and I would like to generate the (initial) placement of roads according to real routes that you can get from OpenStreetMap or the like. Is that possible?

 

Thanks so much!

[LE with Substance]

Seriously, I've seen designs much worse than that of Eclipse. And you could even say it proves the point: It has acquired a very large user base in spite of its design because it can be easily adapted to different users' needs.

What would be so different about plugins than, say, tweaking or even replacing the default shaders for things like oceans and SSAO or exchanging scripts for day-and-night-modeling (assets that, by the way, let me finally drop the CryEngine in favor of LE because I wouldn't miss a single thing)?

[LE with Substance]

I dunno. One of the main reasons Eclipse took off was its flexible plugin architecture. Some of those plugins were commercial, many of them open-source. While I agree that the core of an application has to be driven by a cohesive vision and implementation, making it easier to extend it around the edges can still provide benefit without compromising the original goals. A simple way to extend the editor with specific menus, dialogs etc for one's own workflow, e.g., would be a nice thing.

[LE with Substance]

I agree with knocks, the real-time aspect of substances makes them interesting, and I guess it would be OK if they would be integrated with a plugin system?

 

Regarding trees: I've recently stumbled across an open-source tool called ngplant (http://ngplant.sourceforge.net/). Haven't looked too deeply into it up to now, but seems to be interesting.

[Setting Terrain Normals?]

Hi,

 

I'm new to the Leadwerks Engine and just settling in...

I generate my terrains using World Machine which can also output normal maps, principally at arbitrary resolutions (using tiled builds) Is it possible to import a normal map for the terrain, either via the editor or programmatically? Would it be possible to use a normal map at a higher resolution than the maximum 4096 to make the terrain appear more detailed?

 

Thanks,

Hauke